A blog mostly about the Faroe Islands and stuff from this tiny microcosmos in the North Atlantic. Since Pilot Whaling in the Faroes is brought up a lot by foreigners, many of the posts deal with this issue. Sometimes I write in Faroese, my mother tongue, and sometimes I write in English.

Monday, August 20, 2012

This morning a number of Faroese websites were hacked by some people who call themselves Anonymous Australia in an attempt to harm the Faroese because of their pilot whaling practice. Now these people are threatening to do the same to a number of Faroese people and institutions - here: http://pastebin.com/aaPp5XKK - at least that is how I understand this claim: "To those who support killing whales we only have one thing to say, expect us". Subsequently, they've put up a long list of names (including mine!) whom this warning, allegedly, is addressed to.

Once again I've been named an "advocate" of the pilot whaling...! (The first time was by Capt. Paul Watson on the SSCS site. In fact he called me an "APOSTLE" of whaling....!) My goodness! And thus I'm an enemy of ... well, who? They are anonymous ... and if I get them right, they say that I can count on being the target of their hacker attacks.

I must say, I am completely baffled.

For everyone with an open and non-judgmental mind, who bothers to read what I've really written on this blog and elsewhere about the issue of pilot whaling, it should be totally obvious that I first and foremost have tried to create understanding both ways.

I have advocated for establishing dialogue between those who oppose each other in this matter and not be so judgmental. And I have defended the Faroese against arbitrary attacks.

I have never said that I supported pilot whaling unconditionally. On the contrary. I myself have advocated – mostly in articles written in Faroese to the Faroese public – for stopping the killing, IF it is not possible to continue this tradition on a sustainable and non-commercial basis. I have also urged people to take the health warnings seriously, and asked the Faroese authorities to issue stricter rules in regard to the pilot whale killings.

I have also pointed out, that as long as the health authorities in the Faroe Islands still claim, based on scientific research, that it is within safe limits to eat a certain amount of pilot whale meat and blubber, many Faroese have a hard time understanding why they should stop eating food they have been used to eating for more than a thousand years.

What I'm trying to do is to help outsiders understand the way many Faroese people think about this. The Faroese are not driven to do this because they are "evil" or "bloodthirsty" - or what ever bad things people might call them - not any more so than any other meat eaters and butchers in this world. As long as outsiders believe that the Faroese are somehow only killing pilot whales as some kind of "sick fun" just to be cruel, you will never reach the Faroese and make them understand YOU, because these assumptions about the Faroese are simply not true – and not fair.

You can only win this "war" with reasonable arguments and scientific facts. Only that way you might be able to convince people in the Faroes that you are right. NOT by name-calling, threats, hate-speech, attacks and hacking. All this has been tried for more than 30 years now, and with no result. It will only postpone a solution. It might take some time to reach mutual understanding, but the respectful way is the only way.

This world is insane enough as it is. Please, check your facts, be a good example to the Faroese and let reason prevail.

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About Me

Elin Brimheim Heinesen was born in 1958 in Tórshavn, the Faroe Islands. She has wide-ranging experience in the fields of internet, marketing, media and culture and has worked in communication and marketing for many years as head of marketing, journalist and editor in on-line and printed media.

She holds a university degree (Cand.mag.) in aesthetics and culture and also has an education in business economics from Copenhagen Business School as well as being an educated screenwriter from Den Danske Filmskole (the Danish Film School).